Where Destinies Collide
by Yohko-chan
Summary: Joey Wheeler faces the everyday problems of a teenager that stress him to his limits... but how serious is it?


Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters doesn't belong to me. It is property of Kazuki Takahashi and 4kids Entertainment. If you wanna sue, don't.

Where Destinies Collide

{ Chapter 1 }

By: Shadow Harle

~ ~ ~ ~

"Heyuh, Tristan, do ya evah wonda if a balloon would pop on Yugi's head?"

Joey Wheeler nudged his best buddy in the seat next to him. He and his friends were all sitting in the back of class. Yugi Motou and Ryou Bakura were the only ones sitting up front, bright and attentive as ever.

Tristan Taylor stifled a giggle. Apparently the girl in front of him didn't find any humor in that statement, because she actually seemed quite annoyed.

"You guys, hush!" Tea Gardner glanced at him with irritation.

"What's your problem, Tea? Got PMS or somethin'?" ...Maybe Tristan went a little too far with that one.

"Ugh!" Tea turned back around towards the front of the class. She gave him the evil eye before resuming her studies. Why her best friends were a bunch of guys, no one knows.

"Eh, Tristan... I think she's pissed." Joey stated with an eyebrow raised.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "No duh."

Seto Kaiba jumped in with one of his sarcastic remarks. "Huh. Maybe it's because she simply can't stand you. Take a hint, Joey."

"Hey, why don't you mind ya own business fa once, Kaiba?" Joey said in a gruff manner.

Kaiba kept his eyes on his work, not bothering to look back. "I can't help it if your loud mouth can't stop barking."

"Why don'tcha just shut ya trap!?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Wheeler." Joey, slighty startled, looked up to discover his teacher standing with his arms crossed, solomnly staring at him.

"My bad." Joey slouched back, sighed, and looked down. He heard some soft laughter in front of him, and a soft... evil snicker from Kaiba.

The teacher then turned around to write some notes on the board.

"Busted!" Tristan whispered.

"Eh, shaddup Tristan." Joey said as he fiddled with his pencil.

Kaiba once again interrupted the two with an insult. "Looks like an untamed puppy needs to be disciplined."

Joey tried his hardest to stay calm. "You're pushin' it, Kaiba."

"Or maybe you just need to be checked for rabies."

"Ooh, dat's it!" Joey pounded his hands on the desk and quickly stood up.

At the sound of Joey's racket, the teacher quickly turned around, as did the rest of the class. Yugi and Bakura included. The teacher was infuriated! "Joseph Wheeler! What do you think you're doing?"

"But... Kaiba! He-" Joey looked in front of him to find Kaiba glaring at him from the corner of his eye, with a smug look on his face. "...Nevah mind. Sorry." He slowly sat down, frustrated.

"That's the last I expect from you, young man."

"Young man? More like some pathetic dog." Kaiba responded quietly. Only the students close enough to hear him laughed.

Joey glowed about 16 different shades of red, not to mention his eyebrow twitching and the Anime stress mark on his forehead. Tristan just stared at him. "Joey, don't do it, man. It ain't worth it."

~ ~ ~ ~

About ten minutes later, class was dismissed. Kaiba left promptly. As Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura were packing up their things, little Yugi slowly made his way to the back.

"What was that all about, Joey?" He asked curiously.

Joey just kept his head down. "What was what?" He overheard talk about him as the rest of the class left.

"Earlier. What happened?" Yugi was beginning to look worried.

Soon the rest of the class was gone, but Bakura decided to stay behind for a little bit. He stood by the door. "Come on, you guys. We are going to be late for next period if we stay here any longer."

"In a second, Bakura." Yugi then turned to face his other friends. "You guys go on. I'll catch up."

Tristan shrugged. "Alright." He swung his briefcase over his shoulder. Bakura then turned around and began walking into the hallway when he saw the two coming his way. Tea looked back at Joey and Yugi with a concerned expression on her face as she walked out of the classroom.

Yugi softly placed his hand on Joey's back and made an attempt to look him in the eyes. "Joey... what's wrong?"

Joey sighed, then slightly shook his head. "Nothin'. Let's go." He hastily picked up his briefcase and left in a hurry. Yugi just looked at him for a moment, then quickly followed behind.

~ ~ ~ ~

The end of the school day was near. Just five more minutes. Joey rested his chin on his hand and stared at the clock. _Man, this day is takin' forevah_... He thought to himself. He was feeling unusually tired, and his eyes were getting heavy. He sighed once again. _I just wanna go home and sleep._

During their last class, Yugi decided to sit in the back with Joey, so that he could keep a watchful eye on him. Luckily, Kaiba wasn't in that class to anger either of them. Yugi looked over to Joey to catch him drifting off. He stretched his arm out to tap him awake. "Psst. Hey, Joey."

"Mm... huh?" Joey quickly snapped out of his weary state.

"Just a few more minutes, okay? You don't wanna miss the bell, do you?" Yugi tried to cheer Joey up a bit by showing him a reassuring smile.

"Naw, I guess not."  Joey shut his eyes tightly for a second, then rubbed them with his sleeve. He swept his hand through his hair, then shook his head a little to keep himself alert.

Minutes later, Joey had his head down. He was drifting again, though not as deep. His cheek rested on his forearm, but his eyes were still slighty open. In a few seconds, the bell rang. Joey barely made an effort to stand. He moaned as if he were in pain.

"I think I'm gonna crash at home tonight, Yug. Sorry bud, I'm just not feelin' too cool."

Yugi looked up to Joey, then blinked a couple times. "Oh... well, okay. Is it okay if I call you later then?"

"Yeah, sure, whatevah."

Tristan suddenly appeared at the door. "Hey, guys! Come on!"

Yugi faced him, then turned back to Joey. "Do... you wanna come with us or do are you gonna walk home by yourself?"

Joey seemed hesitant before answering. He didn't want to be alone, nor did he want to be bothered anymore. "Um, halfway."

Yugi went up ahead, while Joey lagged behind. Tristan noticed the gloomy look on Joey's face when he came to. "Dude, what's been goin' on, man?" Yugi immediately nudged Tristan enough to send the message to stop. "Oh... sorry, dude. Bad day I'm guessin'?"

Joey shrugged. "Yeah, probly."

After what seemed like forever to him, Joey was about halfway home. "Later." Joey then turned the corner and began to walk the rest of his way home.

"Bye, Joey." Yugi started to head his way towards the Turtle Game shop to meet his grandpa.

~ ~ ~ ~

[Joey's POV]

"Bye, Joey." were the last words I heard from Yugi today. But I just kept walkin', not botherin' to look back. While I was lookin' down, I noticed something cold hit the back o' my neck. Something like... little drops. The second I realized what was goin' on, I looked up to the sky, which was kinda cloudy.

_Crap, it's raining._ I _really_ didn't feel like running, but I lifted my briefcase over my head to cover myself and jogged the rest of the way. It rained harder and harder by the second.

As soon as I got to my door, I looked for my keys so I could get inside. But I couldn't find them. _Where are they?_ I double-checked everything twice... nothing. _Dammit... I musta left them at school!_ I was _so_ not about to run back just for that. Besides, school's closed.

I leaned against the front door and closed my eyes for a while, but sharply opened them up again. I didn't wanna end up fallin' asleep in the rain, y'know?

So I was locked out. _There's gotta be another way in..._ I walked to the back of the house, briefcase over my head again. I looked up, and saw that my window was open. Musta left it that way after I thought it was gonna be sunny for the rest of today.

I saw some pipes that lead to the gutter right above my room. _Perfect._ I picked up the garbage can outside and set down it close enough to the pipes for me to climb them. It was a pretty easy at first, but got harder the higher up I climbed. My strength was giving way, and I couldn't afford to let go. When I got to the very top, I held on to the gutter, and used every last bit of my strength to kick my screen window in. _I could get it fixed later._

When I got inside, I dropped my stuff and turned on the light. It was pretty dark already. I kinda rushed outta my room to see if my dad was home yet. I didn't want him to figure out that I got in through the window because I misplaced my keys. I peeked around the corner of the staircase. Sure enough, it was pitch black, so I figured he wasn't home yet. I sighed in relief. _Whoo-hoo, lucky me._ I quickly went downstairs to turn on a couple lights, just dimmed them. That way he'd think that I at least came in the usual way. See? I'm not as dumb as people think I am!

As soon as I was on my way back upstairs, I began to feel lightheaded. I stopped right at the foot of the staircase and held onto the railing for to hold myself up. I closed my eyes and shook it off, just enough to last until I got back to my room. When I got inside, I closed my door, and stood in front of my bed. After a few seconds, I closed my eyes, and slowly fell forward. I carelessly hit my bed with a plop. I was knocked out.

~ ~ ~ ~

[Yugi's POV]

I was really worried about Joey, he wasn't acting like himself. Usually he's just so... energenic. Surely he can't let that little conflict with Kaiba bother him so much. He shouldn't. Believe me, he's been through much worse. I've been through a lot myself. I used to be bullied a lot last year, so I know how it's like. But when Joey and Tristan were being picked on, I stood to their defense, and from there, Joey's protected me just the same ever since. Looks like I'll be making one more effort.

I dialed Joey's phone number on my cell. It rang... and rang, no answer. _Maybe he's not home..._ The next thing I heard was the Wheeler's voice mail. "Hello, you have reached-" I hung up immediately... I've never been that fond of talking to a machine.

I tried calling again. Again, it rang. Just when I was about to hang up, I heard a click as if someone had just picked up on the other line.

At first, there was an awkward pause, then a "...Hello...?" That was Joey... but his voice... sounded very weak.

"Joey? It's Yugi... are you okay?"

He moaned a little. "Yeah, man. I was just asleep." Oh, oops.

"Oh. Sorry, Joey. Do you want me to let you go?"

"Nah, I'm cool." Aw, now I feel really bad for waking him up.

~ ~ ~ ~

[Joey's POV]

I looked at the clock... 5:30. I really shoulda got up and changed. My clothes were still damp from the rain, and my bed was just soakin' all the water up. I woulda changed before I went to sleep... but, y'know me.

I was lying face up on my bed, talkin' to Yugi on the phone. I'm guessin' he called twice. I_ did_ hear the phone ring the first time, I just didn't answer. I was still too groggy, so I left it. The second time woke me up.

I sat myself up, my eyes half-closed. My mind wasn't really all there yet, so not everything registered in my head right away.

"I dunno, you don't sound so good... do you feel sick?" I swear, sometimes this kid worries about me too much. Heh, he's a great guy though.

[Yugi's POV]

"I'm fine, dude. It's probly not even all dat bad-"  Suddenly, he began coughing... severely. "Hold on dude..." I'm sure he put the phone down, because I heard the sound of his harsh coughing fade off. I thought it was really serious, though he may not have wanted me to believe it. About half a minute later, he came back.

"Hey, I'm back. Sorry 'bout that."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

[Joey's POV]

Oh man, I didn't what had gotten into me. First I'm feelin' cool, y'know, and next I'm hackin' my lungs out like crazy. The reason I left the phone so fast was... well, let's just say I lost my lunch in the bathroom. Almost didn't make it. Maybe all that stress I was under was really gettin' to me. I felt like Yugi had the right to know I was gettin' sick, but I didn't know how serious this was. I didn't want him to go into some kinda panic attack or somethin'.

I decided to finally get outta my wet uniform, so I held the phone between my shoulder and neck while I rummaged around my drawers for some sweats or something. But when I bent over, I suddenly had that lightheaded feeling in my head again, and with that, my vision blurred.

I tried talkin' normal... but all that came out was: "S-Sure... Yug. I'm... I'm fine."

"...Joey?" All I heard was a pierce ringin' in my ears. My head was in pain, and a lot of it. I shut my eyes tightly and grabbed my head with one hand. I fell to my knees from bein' weak. _Maybe there's really somethin' wrong with me._

[Yugi's POV]

_Okay, don't panic._ That's what I kept telling myself.

"Joey... are you okay?" No response. "...JOEY!?" _Please, God, please..._ "Joey... answer me...!"

The last I heard from him that night... was him falling to the floor.

[To be continued...]


End file.
